


Fake It 'till You Make It

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Friendship, Homophobia, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, just a little, surfer lance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-09
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-22 12:27:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,968
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7439236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A Lance centric fic, covering childhood, garrison days, and time as a paladin each in their respective chapters. It's a 3-pattern.<br/>-<br/>Lance doesn't handle fear well, he stops handling it well when he is seven. It doesn't get any better when he is eighteen either.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> Sup guys. Okay, so, basically this is just me laying out ALL of my Lance headcanons into a singular fic. If you wanna talk about them with me, feel free to leave it in the comments or hit me up on twitter. Guam is super pretty and now I really wanna visit one day, thanks Hunk.
> 
> In context of this fic, Lance is Mexican while Hunk is Pacific Islander. There is also some surfer lingo, so if you get confused here is a helpful link to said lingo. Fun fact: I listened to Møme - Aloha feat. Merryn Jeann on repeat the entire time I wrote this and half of chapter two. That's 151 repeats. 
> 
> If you're reading this, it means a lot to me, so thank you.

Lance doesn't handle fear well.

He stopped being able to handle it when he was seven. When the neighborhood boys ganged up on him for saying he thought that the new boy down the block was cuter than the girls at school. He was scared when they beat him up, calling him names. He was scared when  his moms began to cry when he got home covered in bruises. 

He learned to hide his fear thanks to television. Sneaking in front of the TV late at night, turning the volume all the way down to as whisper as to not wake up the house. There were cooler shows at night, ones with action and suave men who were heroes in modern day life. They also always got beat up, but instead of being scared, the hero fought back. The man would laugh just as he got knocked down, jeer at the enemy, and show everyone 'what a real man could do!'

He wanted to be like him, so he started acting like them.

False confidence became second nature to little Lance. At first, the bullies only hit him harder when he laughed. He got quicker at dodging hits and kicks, only to force out a laugh when he did get hit.  After a bit, one of the older boys finally decided laughing at pain was really weird and didn't want to be near Lance anymore. Gradually they all started to ignore him, and personally, Lance liked it better that way.

One Lance's favorite late night shows was about a guy who always got the girl and always laughed at danger. Personally, Lance thought that the guy's best friend, who was good at martial arts and always wore a hoddie, was better than the girl who somehow won over the main character's heart and always got kidnapped. He stopped watching the show when the best friend was killed off, dying in the main character's arms. Lance remembers crying, he remembers the friend grinning as he lay there dying, laughing weakly as the main character begged them not to go.

He didn't get to see when they died, Lance had accidently been crying too loud and woke up his older sister.  She had immediately turned off the TV and took him outside so he could cry without waking up the whole family. She began humming a song from her piano recital and after a bit Lance finally stops.

_

His family moves to a seaside town three months later. The water is cold all the time, the offshore breeze made everything damp, and the sand got everywhere. Lance absolutely loves it.

What Lance didn't like was the boy seated in front of him at his new school.  He was cute, he was taking karate (according to the girls in his class), and he was cool. Lance kept that first one to himself. He also didn't understand how cute and cool worked together, but somehow the kid pulled it off.

He was everything the Lance wanted to be.

Except for the hair, the hair was something that should have died when his parents were Lance's age. A mullet of all things on an eight year old kid. The kid's parent's must be hippies or something.

Lance never got to say hi to the kid, three days later mullet head was pulled out of school.

_

Lance meets Hunk on accident, three years later.

He is out grocery shopping with his mom. Lance had been put in charge of checking items off the list and was taking his job very seriously.  Unfortunately, grocery shopping can get really  boring really fast. It didn't help that his mom kept picking up apples, looking it over before squinting at it, putting it back, and repeating it all over again.

Lance, being the good kid he was thank you very much, kept himself occupied by people watching and repeatedly going over the list. But there's only so many times you can do that before you get tired of it. He began play with the pen in his hand instead, and settled on trying to make it spin on the side of his thumb once a man in the aisle glared at him for clicking it too much.

 He almost had it, just maybe a bit more pressure an- oops.

The pen flew up and out of his hand, over the fruit, and into the nest aisle.

His mom laughed, "Ay, mijo. Go get it or we can't keep shopping." Blushing, he sprinted to go retrieve it, and saw another young boy, all alone in the aisle, picking it up.

"Uh, excuse me!" The boy whipped his head up and- whoa, was he crying? Lance froze, he wasn't sure how to deal with another kid crying, looking so afraid. Memories from three years ago resurface in his head, he doesn't want to scared the other boy.

So he grins, "Hi!! Um, sorry did my pen hit you?" The other boy shakes his head, as he sniffs Lance hears a bunch of snot and tries not to be grossed out. The other boy was still a little shaky, so Lance tries something else, he remembers a bit of laughter too. "That's good," a well rehearsed laugh leaves him and for some reason Lances keeps the conversation going.

"So, the name's Lance!" He looks the kid over, "what's your name?"

"H-Hunk," he wipes away his tears and Lance figures that this was going well. It seems rude to just ask for the pen and leave Hunk alone at this point. So Lance does what he does best and keeps talking.

"Dude, that's a sweet name!! So, what you gonna grow up and be a buff tough guy huh?"

The corners of Hunk's mouth twitched up, "I don't think that sounds like m-me at all. I mean, I'm l-lost in a grocery store." Lance stares at the boy as he wipes way his tears. Hunk had stopped crying.

"Well, if you're lost, we should go to my mom. She probably knows what to do, she's very smart."

"U-uh, I'm not allowed to talk to a-adults I don't know."

"Then I'll do the talking, let's go!"

Things spiral out of Lance's control when they head over to the apples and his mom is no longer there.  During his panic, Lance learns that Hunk likes to babble about what's going on around him when he's scared. Lucky for the two boys, an employee stocking up on the lemons takes notices the frightened looks on their faces. She takes their hands and leads them to the front to give an announcement .

 They're not so lucky when their enraged and frazzled mothers yell at them for wandering off. Lance knows better than to talk back when his mom is wearing chanclas.

_

The summer of Lance's thirteenth birthday, Hunk's family takes Lance with them on a trip to Guam.

It's yet another accident that Lance even gets to go with them at all. Hunk's mom ended up picking up a case at the law firm she worked at that required her to be there during the days of the trip. The expensive tickets for the flight had already been booked, no refunds, leaving the family looking for a third member to take with them.

Hunk's father, Miguel, is a burley looking man decorated in tribal tattoos with a face just as kind as Hunk's. He suggested that Hunk bring his best friend to see his culture. Lance had dragged Hunk over to his house often enough for him to slowly start picking up on Spanish. It had taken a lot of good behavior from Lance, and begging from Hunk, to convince his moms to let him go.

As is Miguel's comment, "Given how much you've loved and cared for my son, this is the least we can do to show our thanks. Besides the plane ticket was probably the same price as all the food you fed him."

("TATA!"

 "ma'ma, why did Hunk just yell 'boobs?'"

 "T-THAT'S NOT W-WHAT IT MEANS IN MY LANGUAGE!")

Lance's mom makes him promise to behave, while his ma'ma encourages him to be a travieso when he's gone. His older sister lends him her digital camera for pictures, with the promise of his swift death if its damaged. All the younger ones just want toys. Lance can tell that he's gonna miss them immediately.

The flight has a 5 hour layover in Hawaii, at the Lihue Airport, where the boys are greeted by the prettiest ladies they've ever seen. The three of them take a selfie once they all have flower leis on, and the camera never leaves Lance's side. They eat lunch at the airport, Lance pausing between bites to take pictures of everything.

The Ahukini Recreation Pier State Park  next to the airport provides for entertainment for the next 4 hours as well as even more photos of the Ocean. Lance captures photos of the entire time there. A group of older teenagers illegally jumping off the pier in mid air. There is something in their faces that seems to surpass joy, the photo seems to be as alive as they feel. An old man fishing off the ledge of a rock with a stick for a rod and an ice chest balanced next to him. Lance only gets his profile, half the man's face hidden by a straw hat, but that small smile seems to be content. Then there's one of Miguel and Hunk goofing off, Miguel has an arm around his son's shoulders  and is hunched over laughing as hard as always. Hunk's smile takes up his entire face, he's laughing also and wiping away the tears from laughing so hard.

After Hunk nods off when they're back on the plane, Lance shows Miguel the photo he took of him and his son.

("I think your wife will like this one."

Miguel grins at him and rubs his head,  "I bet she'll love it, Little Man.")

_

Guam is tiny but it's also just as amazing as the 5 hours Lance spent in Hawaii. Lance is excited at the idea of two weeks to explore it all. Hunk's family lives in the village of Tutuhan, Agana Heights according to the map, just north of the capital and right off the shore. It's a seven minute drive from Hunk's grandma's house, where they'll be staying.

"I just call her Biha," Hunk explains in the rental car. He's in the back seat with Lance as his dad navigates the roads, the ocean shimmering past out the left window. "It's kinda like how you call your grandmother Abuela, but Biha is a shorter way of saying grandma."

"So what, you just call her Gran?"

Miguel laughs, "Basically and my mom loves it, so be sure to call her it any chance you get."

Hunk whirls back to Lance, "Oh man, you're gonna love the cousins Lance, and they're gonna love you." Lance can see the excited sparkle in Hunk's eyes, it usually only there in science class. "They're so cool, we're gonna go on hikes in the mountains, oh, we'll probably have to take you to the tourist district too so you can buy your gifts. My uncle Keenan promised to teach me to surf too, so we can both learn! Oh, and my Biha's cooking is to die for Lance, it's so good, ah she's probably gonna make a comment on how skinny you are. Don't worry, it just means you're going to get a lot of food shoved at you. If you get full you can sneak it to me."

"Or me," Miguel cuts in. Lance is grinning with the two of them, Hunk's emotions are infectious, especially when his friend in is a good mood. Then it hits him.

"Wait, guys, am I even gonna be able to communicate with them?"

They drive past a U.S. naval base, "See that Lance?" Miguel points out the window. "That base signifies how Guam is a U.S. territory. The native language of Chamorro still flourishes here, but most of the adults and all the young people know English since it is occupied."

"Uh, is there a chance of them not liking me for being American?"

"Nah Little Man, not among our family. Well, I've got one sister who gives me grief for moving to the mainland but besides that, don't worry about our politics. Just enjoy yourself."

Hunk's still smiling, "Dude, I've got to introduce you to everyone when we get there!"

"Everyone? Wait how many are there?"

"Hunk has a whole tribe of family members here," Miguel jokes. Turns out he wasn't that wrong, when the car pulls into the residential area, most of the people on the block are in fact distant family members. It's the one time in his life that Lance considers his family to be small.

Lance is welcomed into the house with open arms, as if he was another one of Miguel's kids. Hunk ends up being right about his grandma though. The second she releases Lance from a back breaking hug, she gives a loud 'tsk' noise and all but drags him into the kitchen. Hunk finds him there still, not allowed to leave until Biha has finished cooking.

"Sorry I didn't help unpack."

"Trust me, I understand." Hunk laughs as a few older teens sprint into the Kitchen from the back yard. Somehow word of their arrival travels fast and in the blink of an eye there are 6 woman all bickering with each other in the kitchen and 7 teenagers, excluding Hunk and Him seated around the dining table. Lance has a difficult time keeping up with all the names, but the family atmosphere of the house alongside the transitioning from Chamorro to English makes him feel like he's right at home.

"Hey Lance," Lance stops looking around and finds all the cousins are staring at him. "They invited us with them to go to the opposite coast tomorrow, You in?"

Lance grins, "Dude, you know it!"

-

Lance counts it as the best summer of his entire life, minus the Tsunami prank Hunk's dad pulls on the boys.  Lance had laughed the entire car ride up the mountain to higher ground, while Hunk kept rambling about chemistry and the wildlife in the surrounding jungle. Eventually, Miguel get's so fed up with listening to them he quits halfway through and tells them he was just messing with them. He takes them to the tourist district for ice cream as an apology. Also to get them to shut up.

Hunk's cousins are all between ages sixteen to twenty, a few have tribal tattoos signifying their adult hood already; but, that doesn't affect how they treat the two of them. If anything, it's as if they're all the same age all just goofing off and having fun when they can. They take them to all the landmarks and local hangouts, sometimes just to sit there and do nothing.

The cousins do have jobs or their own friends and can't spend all their time with the them. So when it's just Hunk and Lance, they bike to the beach past the Naval Base and hang out there to watch some corduroy swells.

The boys do learn how to surf from Hunk's Uncle Keenan, true to Hunk's word. He teaches them how to avoid the coral reefs in the area and mentions that the shore near home is oh so affectionately nicknamed the Graveyard for all the wipeouts. Hunk as a bit of trouble with his balance, but it turns out Lance is a natural.

Miguel attaches board handles to the bikes so he doesn't have to drive the boys anytime they want to hit the waves. Once he finds his balance, an new problem for Hunk emerges. He ends up bailing on most of the waves he catches at first, he's too afraid of wiping out.  He only stops when Lance mentions that they only have so many days in Guam to surf. After the end of the first week, Lance has made up his mind to buy a wet suit and surfboard of his own once he's back in the states.

The camera his sister lent him gets plenty of use too. Lance only takes it with him to the beach when Hunk's cousins tag along. Two of them don't like the ocean very much and prefer to chill under an umbrella, so they keep an eye on their belongings.

On days like this, when the weather was great, they would all bike further north from the usual beach early in the morning. The area was called Boat Basin Left and apparently could give barrel waves on good conditions.

 Half way during the second week, Lance catches his first Barrel. It had been a perfect set up, a good wave that then morphed into a great wave, and then suddenly the world turned teal. His heart seems to slow and Lance lets his body go on instinct. It was like nothing he had ever experienced. The power of the wave combined with his subtle shifts is propelling him forward.  He could see the outside, the world, ahead of him. But while inside that wave the world was reduced to the light shining through the water and his board. Lance feels as if he is part of the wave, he's floating on air, he feels the air hitting his damp chest, hears the break of the wave on the water, feels the mist from it surrounding him. The water curled perfectly over him, he was surrounded on all sides by glassy teal.  He is moving fast along the wave and ends up out of the barrel after what feels like was a lifetime but was only a few moments.

Lance is brought back to reality when he hears yells and cheers from the shore. The cousins on the beach are clapping, one has the camera and is definitely snapping a shit ton of photos. Hunk is on his board with two of the others in the surf, they're all hollering and whooping and just like that the cheer is infectious. Lance feels a grin break across his face and lets out his own holler as he jumps off his board and into the air in sheer joy.

The accidental belly flop puts a slight damper on things, makes his entire chest red, but was still totally worth it.

-

The night before the flight back is a gigantic goodbye party.

The cousins beg Miguel to bring Lance back the next time they visit. They all trade contact information and promise to keep in touch. (To everyone's pleasant surprise, they do.) Uncle Keenan makes an announcement before the dinner. He calls Lance and Hunk up and gives a grand speech about the two boys being well on their way to manhood, how proud he was to be their teacher, and that something should be done to commemorate the occasion.

 Miguel then stands up and immediately shouts 'no tribal tattoos' or Lance's mom would kill him, and the whole family laughs. Keenan agrees and instead presents the boys with their own head tie headband. Hunk is given a rich yellow, while Lance receives a deep blue. Keenan goes on to say the colors represent an event in their time here. Hunk getting over his yellow-belly fear of wiping out and for Lance the barrel wave.

He starts saying something about the two of them becoming warriors by heart, but Lance is no longer listening. He's too overcome with emotion and suddenly doesn't want to leave. Everything that happened will be forever engraved into his memory.


	2. The Galaxy Garrison

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The second year at The Garrison comes as a rampaging storm that changes Lance's life forever. It all starts with the introduction of a short guy called Pidge Gunderson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahaha, I know I said I was debating on making this Keith/Lance or Pidge/Lance. BUT, I also said "We'll see." So here we are. (Honestly, the fanart did me in, it really did.)  
> Hope y'all are still interested. (I've hit a total of 331 repeats of that song, Møme - Aloha feat. Merryn Jeann, now)
> 
> -  
> If you see any typos or incorrect grammar that isn't teenage gibberish, please let me know! Thanks!
> 
> End notes:  
> Also Hunk's tattoo is biased off of this lovely art i saw on my TL a day or so back. Lance's looks like this too.
> 
> Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this!  
> _  
> Edit: for some reason the Links above aren't working and I cant seem to fix them. So here are the URLs (I'm sorry for the inconvience.)  
> Hunk: https://twitter.com/JasJuliet/status/753964343537049600  
> Lance: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cd/b7/45/cdb7454eb0efaf556008ca36e959352b.jpg

The trip back home is less memorable.

They get back at noon and have a little get together at Lances house with Hunk's mom accompanying Lance's moms in the Kitchen. Hunk's Mom flies out the front door to greet them with hugs and forehead kisses. Once Lance is finally steps inside, he is struck with how much he did miss it. The hugs, the Spanish, the nagging, the smell of tortillas; all of it hits him in a tidal wave and he has never been more glad to be back home. 

There's a few white paper bags on the counter and Lance feels a grin form over his face. After his abuela releases him from his final hellos, he all but sprints to the counter and, after a begging glance at his mom, reaches for one of the bags to confirm. The smell of sweet, sugary, bread hits him before he even opens it. Various pieces of pan dulce sit in the bag and Lance feels himself drool.

"Mom, mom can I have one? Please, can I? It's been two weeks mom, two whole weeks sin pan dulce, por favor, que se han visto privadas , puedo comer uno ahora ? ¿Por favor?

"Sí , pero sólo porque has estado tan terriblemente privó," She jokingly replies. Lance immediately snags the pink stripped cuerno for Hunk and a custard elotito for himself. He doesn't stop grinning when he presents the prize to Hunk, who gasps like Lance just gave him a hundred dollars.

"Okay, now that the boys have their pan, please tell me why my son has a headband I don't recall buying for him."

"Oh," Lance's older sister buts in, "finally, story time!!"

Despite being jet legged, the men all launch into story mode, going over the details out of order but still entertaining their audience.

Lance does show Hunk's mom the photo he took early on in Hawaii and she ends up crying to everyone's surprise. She then demands hugs from her boys and '15 copies of that photo, I want it everywhere.'

Lance's older sister is thrilled about all the photos he took, and when she comes across the ones with Lance and the barrel wave she doesn't believe it's him at first. Lance is offended until he realizes she's just teasing him. Hunk and Mateo take turns telling of Lance's natural surfing abilities, eventually letting Lance tell his version of the barrel wave experience.

Lance doesn't take off his headband until he gets to his room, his own _bed_ , he missed his room, oh wow. He doesn't want to tarnish it or the memories he has made in Guam and later frames it instead. The headband has a place just above his bed. Hunk, on the other hand, never takes it off and it later becomes a part of his signature appearance.

His ma'ma tells him that he's going to have to save up if he wants his own surfboard. Lance fully intends to.  It's a perk of living in an ocean side tourist trap of a town, Lance guesses, that he gets to see the ocean every day. The view isn't the same blue waves, but Lance loves his little fogged over town anyway. The shore isn't the same as in Guam, yet Lance and Hunk eventually end up at the beach most days for the rest of their summer break. Lance starts making plans for a job to get a surfboard alongside Hunk.

That summer, Lance learns that nothing beats getting up early and watching the sunrise over the ocean with your best friend.

_

At fourteen, Lance slips up and calls a boy cute.

He's hanging out at Hunk's place, channel surfing; the mid-July heat suffocating them even with all of the fans being turned on. It's the only type of surfing they get to do since they're still saving up for boards of their own. They are in the process of demolishing their third bag of chips when, on the news channel, a photo of a teenage boy with the prettiest eyes Lance has ever seen appears on the screen.

_" Takashi Shirogane is the youngest student to ever be accepted at the Galaxy Garrison Academy. Originally from Japan-"_

"See Lance," Lance gives a grunt to show he's listening as he keeps staring at the TV. "That guy should have been born with the name Hunk, he looks like an actual hunk."

Lance considers that for a moment and the words are out of his motor mouth before his mind catches up to it.

"Eh, He's too cute."

Lance freezes, suddenly remembering the last time he called a boy cute. The taunts, the jeers, the punches. Oh god he feels like he's going to be sick-

Hunk's bellowing laugh rips him back to reality. His friend begins licking the artificial BBQ flavoring from the chips off his fingers. "Dude, you've got a point. Guy's got the longest eyelashes I've ever seen. Still, I think he's more of a 'hunk' than I'll ever be."

"Now hold on," Lance shoves his internal crisis aside, "Hunk, my dude, if you stopped being Hunk I'd probably cry."

Hunk laughs again, "Don't worry Lance, I'm all I know how to be. I won't stop being me no matter what."

"Then stop with the self deprecating jokes man, that's gonna kill yourself esteem."

The news moves on to a different story, Hunk brushes off his hands on his pants and reaches for the remote.

"Maybe if I was in the Galaxy Garrison like him, I'd actually have confidence." When Lance goes silent Hunk ventures a look over at him and sees a huge grin.

"....Lance, LaNCE NO."

"LANCE YES."

"WHAT, NO, NONONO-"

_

A year passes and the first day of the Pre-Garrison Training Academy brings in a familiar face. Well, familiar hair. Lance is pretty sure that Keith is the same mullet head from elementary school. No one else would ever have a mullet besides him.

The thing that makes him angry is that it, for some reason, looks good on Keith.

What pisses him off, a month down the line, is that Keith is significantly better than him at flying. Lance had wanted to be a pilot when Hunk and him first began drafting out their admission plans and goals. Then this, Keith, guy was showing up Lance not even a few weeks into the program. The kicker is that Lance is beating the guy in test scores, long range marksmanship, and agility but has yet to best him at flying.

What pisses him off even further is that there are rumors among the cadets a year above the boys. They say that the guy is getting considered for the one Fighter Pilot position available when their class graduates, just for being good in one category. They were only two months into their first year!

To Lance, who worked his ass off to get to the top in almost everything, this makes Keith someone to beat.

A rival.

_

Lance gets a girlfriend in the academy just after winter break; the relationship lasts for about three weeks before they break up. 

Hunk finds him later that night, sitting on the roof of their dorms, staring at the stars. He doesn't say anything, only sits down right next to him. The silence stretches for a bit, before Lance decides it's too quiet and begins to hum. It's another one of his sister's piano songs, he's taken to listening to piano music to calm him down during stressful situations at school. Mostly it helps him sleep.

Hunk patiently waits for him to finish before he starts talking to Lance.

"You know, I was expecting you to be more torn up about this."

Lance shrugs, "I really did like her at first. It surprised me how much I liked her... but whatever was there during those first two weeks was definitely gone by the time Monday rolled around."

Hunk gives his own hum this time, "You know, I was surprised when you said yes after she asked you out." Lance takes his eyes off the stars and looks over at his friend.

"Really, why?"

"Well... I dunno... I always thought, that, you know, you liked guys instead."

Lance feels his breath stick to his chest, panic making it constrict and harder to breath.

Hunk is still looking at the stars.

 Lance feels like he's about to puke, his heart is going way too fast. Briefly, he wonders if he should lie, he has never lied to Hunk before. The moment the idea crosses his mind the panic is replaced with crushing guilt.

No, Hunk is his best friend, he wasn't a gang of vicious kids, he trusted Hunk, he did. Lance forced the breath stuck in his lungs out of his chest. The air of confidence he usually carried gone, he felt venerable, exposed. But this is Hunk. He can say it.

"Well, you're not wrong." His voice is barely a whisper. Hunk heard it though, and finally turned to look at him. If Lance wasn't in the middle of choking on the fear in his throat, he would have laughed at the way Hunks expression changed from resolved to panicking.

"L-lance are you okay?"

Oh boy, he is having a really hard time breathing now, his face feels kind wet, his eyes sting, everything's tilted, he has no idea how this is going to turn out holy shit he can't breathe he really can't breath-

A hand begins rubbing his back, "Deep breaths Lance, deep even breaths."

 Hunk stays by his side, talking Lance through whatever the hell is happening to him. He isn't sure how long it takes for him to finally breath normally. Eventually whatever the hell has happened to Lance passes in, 10 minutes, an hour? Who knows.

All Lance knows is that Hunk is still here at his side, Hunk is still with him, and this time it's not fear that makes him want to cry.

_

A week later Hunk introduces a new term to him.

"Bisexual?"

Hunk nods, his mouth full from the huge bite he had taken out of his burger. Sundays are mandatory day's off and are usually used by students to go into town and run errands. Lance still has to mail his letters home, he's on cell phone probation, but hunger had gotten the best of Hunk and him.

"You know like," Hunk has a piece of lettuce stuck in his teeth, "Bi being the Latin suffix for two? More than one."

"Yeah, okay but what does it mean?" Lance shoves some fries into his own mouth.

"That you can be attracted to two genders, you know, in your case, guy and girl."

"That- That actually exists?"

"Are you trying to tell me that you're an imaginary friend Lance? I'm pretty sure you exist."

"Not what I meant, dude."

"Yeah," Hunk takes another bit of his food, " ufgh I shwas, curish-"

"Food. Swallow. NOW."

Hunk laughs, "Sorry, I was saying, I was curious since you seemed confused yourself. After googling some terms I came across a whole bunch of different sexualities. Did you know that there are different identities too? Aside from male and female?"

"I barely knew what I liked, of course not. What are they?"

The rest of lunch was spent looking at Hunks phone, the two of them pointing out to each other new words they had never heard of.

Walking to the post office, Lance can't help but say, "Earth is a lot more diverse than I thought."

_

His last year at the training school, Lance almost catches up to Keith in the flight simulator. Lance spends all of his spare time going over the flight instruction manual, studying Keith's simulator videos, and learning to mimic his movements in the cockpit.

Hunk points out Lance might be a little obsessed with catching up to Keith. Lance points out to Hunk that if he wants his own midnight snacks that he can learn the guards rotation pattern next time and get it himself. Hunk drops the subject, but not before he calls Lance un 'flaco pendejo.' (Lance chucks a pillow at him laughing, telling him to use Spanish on someone 'besides the person who taught you.')

. Keith doesn't catch up to Lance's test scores.

 Lance still loses the position to him at the end of the year

_

It's summer. The Kerberos mission is on the news again. The pilot that Lance recognizes as the cute one, the one who gave Hunk and him the idea to get into Galaxy Garrison, is assumed to be dead along with the rest of the crew.  Shiro, as the students at the academy called him, had become someone Lance had aspired to be when he made fighter class. His hero.

Some dark thought in the back of his mind tells him that it's fitting his hero is dead along with his dreams.

_

The first year at Galaxy Garrison goes by without incident. Lance is training to be a cargo pilot, Hunk is studying to be an engineer. Lance couldn't be more proud of him, as Hunk is slowly gaining more and more confidence. Not to mention muscle too, Hunk is growing to reflect Miguel's body type. Turns out applying to the Garrison wasn't a waste of time after all.

_

A break from school finds the boys on a surprise trip with Hunk's family, another two week vacation to Guam. This time it is in spring, rather than the summer and Keenan does in fact get to give Hunk his first tattoo.

He pulls the boys away on a Wednesday, and presents him with the sketches of the tattoos he's drawn out for them. Hunk's is a beautiful tribal design, it ends up covering his upper arm and shoulder. Lance is defiantly envious but turns down getting one. His moms put the fear of god in him and if he suddenly showed up back home with a huge tattoo then it's 'Bye-bye Lance.'  Keenan tries to convince him to get a small wave on his shoulder blade. Lance is adamant about staying ink free, until he looks at Hunk. The big guy is looking at him with big eyes, like a puppy, silently begging Lance to do it.

Lance caves.

Hunk cheers.

Miguel cries in fear of Lance's mom's fury.

Lance cries when it turns out to be big and not small like promised. In the end, tears are shed and Lance doesn't live to regret the day. Just the size.

Most of the cousins stop by, but none really have the same amount of time to hang out. Lance brings his own board with him this time, as does Hunk, and the two of them spend their two weeks surfing on the waves they missed in their hearts.

-

Two days before his eighteenth birthday, during the summer before his second year, Lance gets a call.

He's Fighter Class now.

_

The second year at the garrison comes as a rampaging storm that changes his life forever. It all starts with the introduction of a short guy called Pidge Gunderson.

The Garrison starts implementing team training together during the second year curriculum, they still have solo classes but now there are team classes too. Lance and Hunk are ecstatic when they find out they're on the same team. They're less thrilled when their new teammate immediately tells them he has better things to do then hangout in his free time.

A week into the year, Pidge proves to be highly intelligent, well versed in tech, and a little shit. He also proves to be quick to anger, prideful, and a terrible at teamwork.

Lance is beyond convinced, two weeks in, that Pidge is trying to kill his grades with their shitty 'I-don't-have-time-for-fun' attitude. Hunk tries to reason with Lance that Pidge is probably just antisocial or just shy and needs time to adjust. Until, that is, all three are put on academic probation for Low Team Work and Communication skills the following week. After that Hunk abandons reasoning and begins to complain as well.

Detention is spent with Lance talking shit in Spanish about where he thinks Pidge should stick his attitude. Hunk is switching between conveying his annoyance in choppy Chamorro and responding to Lance in Spanish. All the while, Pidge sits behind the two of them in the classroom typing a mile per minute into their keyboard.  It goes on like this for the rest of the week.

When the fourth week hits along with cell phone probation and no weekend trip, Lance starts to panic.

"They're gonna kick me out." Lance is sitting upright tucked between two wall on a corner of his bed. He is curled up and has his head between his knees. Hunk is sitting at his desk, unsure of how to approach Lance. Their 'team' is the only one stuck on base right now, it's a Sunday.

"Lance, come on-"

"Hunk. They're going to kick me out of the damn fighter class position I know it. The higher ups didn't want me to have it in the first place!"

"Lance-"

"They didn't! I worked so hard to get it, you helped me to study and get those Straight A's in every class, I am skilled marksmen, an above average pilot. And in the end they gave it to Mullet head! Because he was a 'natural pilot' completely disregarding his C average grades and off mark shooting."

"Uh Lanc-"

"-the only reason I got this spot his because he dropped out an now, now I'm gonna lose it! My grades are the worst they've ever been and administration didn't even want me to have the spot with A's! My moms are gonna be so disappointed, I'll feel so guilty that I would rather them be angry with me. Oh god and my siblings, my siblings they're gonna call me a liar, Hunk. They'll get angry and accuse me of lying to them."

"Lan-"

"aND ITS NOT EVEN MY FAULT." Lance is rambling, his voice is raising; so, he takes a deep shaking breath to calm down. But, he can feel the tears seeping from his closed eyes and a bitter laugh forces its way out of his throat. "It's not even my fault when it's supposed to be teamwork." His voice drops even lower, "Teamwork, hah, how are we a team when one of the _'team'_ doesn't act like it."

It's quiet in the room, there isn't even a clock to tick since the entire base is digital. There's nothing to drown out Lance's shuddering breaths as he tries not to cry besides the pounding in his ears.

"I-i, I didn't..."

It belongs to a voice that's not Hunk and Lance feels a shock that can only be described as 'Oh shit' all the way to his bones. That usually only happens when he knows he's gonna get the chancla.

Lance slowly brings his head up and finds Pidge occupying the now open doorway. He's just standing there, shock written across his face. He keeps staring at Lance until Hunk coughs, breaking the trance.

Hunk is sitting at his desk looking beyond uncomfortable and fidgeting. Pidge glances at him, "May I come in?" Their voice is low and Lance belatedly realizes there are footsteps echoing in the hall coming towards them.

Hunk and him exchange a quick look, "Y-yeah, sure."

Pidge only steps in far enough for the automatic to slide shut. Even after, it's dead silent, Hunk is nervously biting his lip to avoid rambling. Lance feels like laughing just to get rid of the atmosphere, but that would probably be a dick move considering the situation between the three of them.

Pidge takes a sharp inhale, "I'm sorry." Lance is startled when he looks him dead in the eye. He looks sad.

"I-i was being selfish and only thinking of my own situation. I've been preoccupied with, with my home life and it hasn't been easy. I know it's a late excuse, but that's honestly it. I've been trying to deal with an- an ongoing problem from it and neglecting my duties at the Garrison. To my team."

Pidge turns to look at Hunk, "To both of you actually. I didn't even think about how my actions would affect either of you and, you both welcomed me with open arms... only for me to turn them down."

He looks down, "I had come to the Garrison make my mother happy, to fix things, and I- god, I was only fucking it up. Fucking up the future for the two of you." Pidge's shoulders are shaking, "I'm really really sorry."

The apology hangs in the air for a moment, and the quiet settles back in.

"Pidge," Hunk cuts in, "It's not like either of us told you about our lives or something-"

"I didn't exactly give you the opportunity to did I?"

Hunk ignores the interruption, "So it's not like you knew about what we wanted to do or why we are even here. The same goes for us to you too. But, I guess that doesn't really matter now that the two of you kinda put it out there just now huh?" Lance  feels himself unfurl from his little ball, and wipes some of the tears off his face.

He laughs, "Oh god Pidge, just how much of that did you hear just now?"

He gets a shrug in return, "Something about C average grades. But, guys, I mean it, I really am sorry."

Lance hops off the bed at this point and Hunk moves to where Pidge is standing. "One thing to know about me and Lance, Pidge, is that the two of us are probably the most relaxed personalities on this entire base."

"But-"

"I mean sure," Lance interrupts, "we're both prone to panic over grades and what not. But dude, now that we're actually talking to each other, we have the entire semester to fix it just fine."

Pidge's eyes are flickering between the two of them, "S-so, that's it? These past four weeks are suddenly water under the bridge? Just like that?"

Lance smiles and Hunk shrugs, "I mean, unless you want to drag it out to week five-" Pidge smacks Hunk in the stomach for that. They're all grinning now. Lance can see the tension leaving Pidge's shoulders.

"So, does this count as our first real team bonding exercise? Because if that's the case, we should take a photo to remember it!"

"Don't make this weird Lance."

"Come on, Hunk, Pidge, One quick selfie?"

"Uh, If I say yes can I leave?"

"Dude!"

_

Several things happened once Pidge finally let the two of them into his life. Pidge and Hunk somehow developed a scientific comradery and became intellectual besties. Pidge then was adopted into being Lance's second tutor.

At the same time Lance and Pidge became, has Hunk put it, 'Saltmates.' The two of them would have 5 minutes per team lesson a day to sit down and just be 'as petty as fuck' together.

("Thank you, Hunk."

"I call it how I see it man.")

Lance has also learned, from observation, that Pidge is definitely a little sibling or only child. They don't hold the same calm air that comes from being the older sibling, but Pidge definitely has a few of those stereo typical little sibling traits. That, 'I'll show 'em attitude' and his hate of not being taken seriously are two prime indicators for Lance.

So, Lance of quickly figures out which buttons he can get away with pushing, the ones to stay away from, and the ones that are too tempting to not press. He mostly riles up Pidge just because he acts so much like his little sister when he does. It helps Lance to be less homesick while away for so long.

 Not all the time though.

"Woah, you look like shit."

"Thanks, bird name." Pidge kicks Lance in the shin for that, under the table. "Oh, playing footsie now- OW."

It's Thursday, time for breakfast in the cafeteria and it's just the two of them at their table. Hunk has left for the latter half of the week due to a family wedding. It leaves Lance with too much quiet for loud thoughts to roam around.

Pidge coughs away the slight blush in his cheeks and looks at Lance. "Seriously though, what gives? You look like you didn't sleep last night."

"That's because I barely did." Lance pokes at his eggs.

"Why?"

"So," he sighs. "I'm a loud person, I know that. I like noise, background noise reminds me of home and lets me sleep easier. Hunk's snoring usually takes care of the silence in the night."

"...So since Hunk is gone you're having problems sleeping at night?"

"It sounds lame, I know. But I have honestly never had a room to myself. Always shared it with my little brother and then Hunk. This unnerving quiet is something I'm not used it."

"Have you tried listening to music? That might work?"

"I would but my ear buds broke on Monday and I've gotten wait another 3 days for the Sunday trip to town to get a new pair."

Lance's stomach growls at him for not feeding it yet. He dumps some Tapatio on the eggs and shoves them into his mouth. Pidge has his thinking mask on, the one where he shows literally no emotion while contemplating a problem presented to him. Lance shoves some of his eggs onto a piece of plain toast, lack of tortillas mean you gotta get creative, and tears into that too.

Pidge nibbles on his toast.

"You know..."

Lance looks up from his plate at Pidge, who looks up at him and quickly makes a disgusted face. Lance can feel the sauce on his face and holds up a hand. He grabs a napkin, swallows the food in his mouth, and wipes off the remains.

"¿Mejor?"

Pidge blinks before nodding, "Si."

"Your accent is still terrible."

"ALL I SAID WAS YES!"

"And that's all I needed to hear."

"You're a terrible Spanish tutor Lance."

"Yeah, who's helping you pass foreign language?"

"I just wanted to know what you and Hunk were always talking about!" Pidge folds his arms and pouts.

Lance takes a sip of his Coffee, "You know we would have taught you if you just asked, right?"

"SERIOUSLY??"

"Dude, this is me and Hunk we're talking about. Of course we would."

Pidge's head hits the table and Lance starts laughing. A groan of agony reaches his ears, only encouraging his laughter. Lance reaches over the table to ruffle his auburn hair.  Pidge peaks up at him through askew glasses, a red mark now on his forehead.

"You wanna borrow my headphones?"

It's Lance's turn to blink, "Huh?"

"Do you want to borrow my headphones?" Pidge rests his chin on the table, looking directly up at Lance.

"What was with that subject change?"

"I'm trying to be as nice to you as you guys are to me. So, sleeping problems, do you want to borrow them or not?"

Lance reaches across the table and holds Pidge's face in his hands. "P L E A S E."

"Lance, you're making it weird again." Pidge still smiles though, as best he can with a squished face.

_

"OKAY Team Lance this is it!"

"Team Lance?"

"Let him have this Pidge."

"Hey, it's our first Team simulation together, let's get Pumped!"

"I'm more nauseous actually, Lance. I don't think that Beef Stroganoff for lunch was a good idea."

"Hunk, buddy, please don't throw up."

Pidge rolls his eyes, "How about you don't crash us first Lance."

"Pendejo."

" _Hey_. I'm just saying, worry about yourself first. You usually crash the updated simulator course."

"Not today, today is gonna be great. I can feel it in my bones."

"Well, I feel it in my stomach."

"I feel an ache in my head."

**"FIRST TEAM LINE UP."**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okie Dokie!! This chapter ends when the tv series picks up for our three protags, so next time, THE FUN BEGINS!
> 
> Speaking of chapters, there will be a bit of a lull in between this one and the last one. I have a wedding to attend as well as a Job interview to prep for. Life happens, I'm sorry. 
> 
> The whole headphone this is something I picked up on in Some Assembly Required. In the first ep, we see Pidge on the roof with a pair of green headphones, that later appear as the same one's Lance is listening to during Allura's drill.  
> Like I said last chapter, a bunch on headcanons.


End file.
